1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cow milking devices and more particularly pertains to a strip bucket for collecting bad milk wherein such bucket is provided with an automatic overflow prevention valve arrangement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of strip buckets for collecting bad milk from cows is known in the prior art. In this respect, approximately 5 to 7% of all cows in a milk cow herd have to be strip bucket milked due to the presence of bad milk in their udders (teat). There is always a chance during every milking that a strip bucket could contaminate the bulk tank milk. This has become more of a problem in recent years due to better breeding of cows which has resulted in their providing of more milk. These new breed cows can easily fill a strip bucket and if a strip bucket overflows, bad milk can end up in the bulk milk tank which could result in a ruination of all of the milk. In those situations where a milker is very busy and forgets to unhook a strip bucket, the next cow in the line could overfill the bucket which could again result in ruination of the bulk supply. Also, where the bulk tank milk has been ruined and the dairy man doesn't discover this before the milk is delivered to a tank truck, a real possibility exists that all of the milk in the tank truck could be ruined. As such, there exists a continuing need for some means of preventing bad milk overflow from a strip bucket and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.